High water persists in Minnesota, creating island towns

Parks near the city of Moose Lake flood on June 21. Damage assessment teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are expected to be in the area next week to start tallying the damage to public infrastructure in 14 counties and one Indian reservation.

Clint Austin / AP

Doug Weisert, center left, hands Vern Anderson a sandbag in the parking lot of the Dairy Queen in Moose Lake, Minn. on June 21. The Moose Horn river overflowed in to parts of the Moose Lake township after record rainfall hit the area.

Clint Austin / AP

Asia Gobel, 12, of Moose Lake rides her bike through flood waters on Minnesota Highway 73 in Moose Lake, Minn. on June 21.

AP reports: Nicole Lamphier and her family planned to ride out the flooding inundating their Duluth neighborhood at a friend’s home nearby, but when they ran out of diapers for their 9-month-old, they called in the Coast Guard to get them out.

"The damage is indescribable,” said Lamphier, 30. “It’s kind of heartbreaking. You see people down there that have lost everything. I’m just glad to be out.”

City, county and state officials spent Thursday assessing damage, while areas farther south continued to fight rising waters. The town of Moose Lake was being described as “an island.”